<p>My d is a rising senior. She took the ACT in June and received a 32. She wants to take the SAT this fall. My thought is, why not study for the ACT and retake it. She is already familiar with the ACT. All of the schools she is applying to will take either test. It just seems risky to me to take a test she isn't familiar with.</p>
<p>Deb, I'd have to agree with both of you on this one. If she takes the SAT and bombs it, no risk just don't send it to anyone, including the high school until you see the scores. If it's not "better" than a 32 (or the best ACT) on the concordance , don't send it. Now , take a second ACT? Certainly. Score choice. It is my advice never to send any test anywhere , even to the high school, before knowing the score. </p>
<p>I know some disagree but I believe the safest tactic is to only have your highest score before the committee, whether that be for admissions or merit scholarhips. When those committees are splitting hairs between two kids with a 32 , the one with the 1200 SAT is at a disadvantage. Just human nature. (The only exception is for schools who transfer data and only transfer the highest score so the lower score is not available to the committee, but still-better safe than sorry. Why risk it?)</p>
<p>Thanks for the great advice. Being new at this, I didn't know you had a choice of sending the scores. I thought once you took a test, the H.S. automatically received the score. I will see how she feels about taking both tests. It's my understanding that the testing agencies send to your choice colleges free of charge. Is that still true if you don't select the colleges prior to test day?</p>
<p>Both the SAT and the ACT registrations have a place to fill in your high school CEEB code. If you just leave that blank, the school will not get a copy of your score report. You can always send it to them later.</p>
<p>Don't take advantage of the free offers. Don't. You don't know what you are sending. SAT does not have score choice. The only score choice on the SAT exists on the front end. If you don't like it, don't send it. If it's fantastic, send it. After that , anything you send will have all the SAT's and SAT subject tests sent. ACT has score choice. You choose which one to send.</p>
<p>Don't send the test scores anywhere without knowing what they are. That would be like sending a letter to your spouse you wrote while you were drunk and you don't remember what it says.:eek:. </p>
<p>Don't ever list a high school name on the test. High schools have a bad habit of "helping" you by sending all scores "as school policy".</p>
<p>Thanks to both of you. I've learned alot from this little post. Most importantly, not to have a pen in my possession when I'm drinking! </p>
<p>No matter which one she takes, we will be certain not to send the scores anywhere until we've seen them!! So much to learn about this process.</p>
<p>Whoa! Wait a minute. I got off this computer, had a snack and was mulling over all this testing information. I guess it takes me a little longer to process then some folks. </p>
<p>So if I am to understand this correctly, my d can take the SAT and choose not to send the scores anywhere at registration. Bombs the test and no one needs to know. She sends her nice little 32 ACT to the schools and that's all they know. So now here is the epiphany that I think I had. At three of her choice colleges, they require 2 SAT Subject tests. When the results of these subject tests are sent, the result of the bombed SAT is also sent. Have I been correctly enlightened? If I have, then maybe she should just take her chances with a second ACT test and skip the SAT.</p>
<p>Deb -- I think that your daughter could take the SAT IIs at the earlier testing date, and then send those scores to ONLY the colleges that require them. (Am I right in my understanding that three of her schools require the two SAT II's AND the ACT test?) She could then take the SAT I on the next available date, and follow all the advice above. Only send those scores if you are happy with them. It will cost a little more to do it this way, but I think it's safer. Just keep in mind that all SATs show up on the score report. But if you send SAT scores to a particular school, they are not automatically updated with new scores from tests taken at a later date.</p>
<p>
Yeppers. You got it.</p>
<p>Make sure the schools requiring the SAT Subject Tests won't accept the ACT for everything.</p>
<p>As curmudgeon said, often the ACT substitutes for the SAT II's, so check this out. And to say again, IF the SAT II tests are taken and "scores sent" BEFORE the SAT I is taken, The SAT I score does not automatically get sent to to the schools that previously received the SAT II's. All the schools, to which you send the SAT I will receive the SAT II's, however.</p>
<p>But if one is this kid, there is no need to worry about any of this:
<a href="http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/education/2003209918_pair19.html%5B/url%5D">http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/education/2003209918_pair19.html</a></p>
<p>another "tidbit"
When our first child applied to colleges, most of them accepted the scores that were submitted with the HS transcript as "official". We did not need to send (and pay for) official copies from CB or ACT. Since he applied to 10 schools, that was a nice savings! You MUST check w/ each college regarding their policy, if you want to do this. However, that only works if the HS receives (and posts) your scores on the transcript. Like Curmudge advises, we didn't want this to be automatic w/ #2 until we saw the scores, so we asked the HS to NOT include the scores until we gave them our okay. They agreed -- but we'll see if this works.</p>
<p>deb:</p>
<p>the simple solution is to take a SAT practice test at home, under decent testing conditions. If her CR+M score is better than an equivalent ACT score....otherwise, fuhghedditaboutit.</p>